


sick in love with you

by doxian



Series: Sports Winter Anime Games (SWAG) 2016 [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bodily Fluids, Caretaking, Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, Sickfic, Sports Winter Anime Games 2016, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 09:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5739280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian/pseuds/doxian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo really is gross like this, Tsukishima thinks. His face is a spectacularly unfortunate palette of color: his cheeks paper-white, his eyes ringed with dark circles, purple and puffy, his nose bright red, and his forehead dotted with spots as bright as his nose, from where he's broken out a little. His usual bedhead is looking decidedly less jaunty than usual, too - flopping into his face in a matted, greasy mess.</p><p>Tsukishima must really love Kuroo, since as revulsive as he is right now, he still kind of wants to kiss him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sick in love with you

**Author's Note:**

> [written for this SWAG prompt](https://referees.dreamwidth.org/3776.html?thread=178624#cmt178624): "these two taking care of each other when one is sick. bonus points if it's kuroo being a sniffing mess and tsukki doesn't really want to get close and wears a mask the entire time he's around him" 
> 
> thanks Icie for the bona-fide Doxy bait ;]

"Ugh, you sound _disgusting_." 

Tsukishima knows he's being harsh, but Kuroo. Will. Not. Stop. _Laughing_ at him, and with every laugh Tsukishima can hear the mucus gurgling in his nose and throat. _Gross._ And when Kuroo finally stops, it's not because Tsukishima asked him to, but because he has to succumb to a violent fit of coughing instead.

Tsukishima sighs and heads to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water. 

The source of Kuroo's amusement is, as usual, Tsukishima himself. Or, more specifically, the face mask Tsukishima is wearing, tucked securely from the bridge of his nose to under his chin, and the pair of Pepto Bismol pink rubber gloves rolled all the way up to his elbows over his shirt. 

Such precautions are necessary, though. Kuroo had proved as much just then - he would have blitzed Tsukishima with a slurry of germs if Tsukishima hadn't come adequately prepared. 

Kuroo takes the water from him gratefully. 

"Maybe if you'd paid more attention to personal hygiene, you wouldn't be sick right now," Tsukishima can't help but berate him. "You must have received the email about the flu that's going around campus." 

Kuroo almost starts laughing again in the middle of drinking. 

"Sorry, Tsukki," he says, except with his clogged sinuses it sounds more like _shobby, Chooggi_. "But there's no way I'd go to class in a getup like _that_. Too troublesome. I'll leave the exterminator look to you." 

Tsukishima ignores his smirk, shoving a tissue box at him. 

"Blow your nose already." 

Kuroo obliges, making a sound not unlike that of a toilet flushing.

"Seriously," Kuroo says. He tosses the used tissues in the trash, which he'd dragged next to his bed for easier access. He sounds better, Tsukishima observes, though not by much. "Thank you. For coming over. You know you didn't have to." 

The expression Kuroo shoots him is decidedly too affectionate for something as simple as Tsukishima checking in on him while he's sick. Tsukishima has to click his tongue, looking studiously away. 

"Someone has to look after you, if you're not going to do it yourself." 

The scolding doesn't put a damper on Kuroo's sentimental attitude in the slightest; he smiles at Tsukishima like the other had just recited a piece of romantic poetry to him. The smile makes the skin around his nostrils, already white and cracked from the dryness, crack a little more.

"And you're the best person for the job, hmm?" 

Tsukishima just menaces him with the tissue box again, this time shoving it at his face. Kuroo raises both hands to defend himself. 

" _Whoa_ , it's bad form to attack an invalid! Okay, you're absolutely right. I'm a mess. I can't even blow my nose properly on my own." He aims for flippant, sarcastic, ends up at - 

"Pathetic," Tsukishima says, coming off as endeared rather than contemptuous. He shakes his head as Kuroo dissolves into coughs again, covering his mouth with his hands, and then just coughing into the comforter, pulling it up even further from where it was at his chin. He really is gross like this, Tsukishima thinks. His face is a spectacularly unfortunate palette of color: his cheeks paper-white, his eyes ringed with dark circles, purple and puffy, his nose bright red, and his forehead dotted with spots as bright as his nose, from where he's broken out a little. His usual bedhead is looking decidedly less jaunty than usual, too - flopping into his face in a matted, greasy mess.

Tsukishima must really love Kuroo, since as revulsive as he is right now, he still kind of wants to kiss him. But all that would do is get _him_ sick, too, so he refrains. 

"Here," he says once Kuroo has resurfaced. "My mom always made me drink this when I got sick. Maybe it'll help."

He digs through his bag and presents Kuroo with a bottle. The herbal medicine is visible through the clear glass - dark brown and viscous. Kuroo pulls a face.

"I'm serious," Tsukishima says before Kuroo can protest. 

"Fine," Kuroo says, petulant, but acquiescing nonetheless. "Dammit. You're so persuasive, Tsukki." 

The strong, bitter smell of the ingredients - almost like licorice, or something aniseed at least - hits the air when Kuroo uncaps the bottle. It brings back dozens of memories of when Tsukishima was laid up in bed sick as a kid. 

Kuroo makes to pour some of the concoction into the bottle's cap-slash-cup to drink, but then he blanches even paler than he already is, hurriedly passing the bottle and cap back to Tsukishima and scrambling out of bed.

"What's wrong?" Tsukishima asks, frowning in concern, but Kuroo only manages to grunt out an unintelligible response before rushing to the adjoining bathroom. 

Tsukishima hears a loud clank, followed by retching and then the unmistakable sound of stomach fluid hitting the bottom of the toilet bowl. 

He winces. He sets the medicine down and follows Kuroo into the bathroom on instinct, but once he reaches the doorway he finds himself at a loss. You can't exactly help someone who's throwing up - Kuroo just needs to get it over and done with. Now that he's here, though, he kneels beside Kuroo, rubbing Kuroo's back in a way that he hopes is at least a little soothing. 

Kuroo's entire body crumples, all his energy going into bringing up what he'd ingested since morning. The vulnerable little convulsions Tsukishima feels under his hand make his own stomach clench in sympathy. 

It's over in a few seconds. Kuroo straightens up. His eyes are watery from the force of the retching, and his lips are covered with spit and - Tsukishima presses his lips together tight around a grimace - _other fluids_ that spread in a line down to the tip of his chin. 

Tsukishima stares at him hopelessly. Yep. He still wants to kiss him. What is _wrong_ with him? 

Kuroo looks as embarrassed as Tsukishima feels as he rips off a piece of toilet paper, wipes his mouth, and then flushes the toilet. The puke-stench still lingers like oil on glass. 

"I'm so sorry," Tsukishima groans, resting his forehead on Kuroo's shoulder. 

"S'fine, not your fault my stomach's a wimp," Kuroo croaks, and he still manages to sound fond, even after all this. "You're the best nurse a guy could ever ask for."

Tsukishima suddenly realizes he's moved from rubbing Kuroo's back to putting his arm around his shoulders, leaning close in a sort of awkward, one-armed embrace. He stands up abruptly, doesn't say anything. Kuroo washes his face in the sink. Tsukishima watches him, his stomach lurching again, but this time Tsukishima is pretty sure it has nothing to do with sympathy and everything to do with how much he cares about the boy slouching in front of him. 

"Maybe I should just get you some pills from the pharmacy downstairs, instead," he says, finally. 

When Tsukishima comes down with the flu the following week, Kuroo stops by to make him soup without Tsukishima even having to ask.


End file.
